The Ultimate Computer (episode)
The Enterprise tests a computer that, if successful, could replace Kirk as the Captain. Summary *''Captain’s log, stardate 4729.4. The M-5 computer has been installed onboard ship, and we have left the space station for test manoeuvres. '' Dr. Richard Daystrom, who designed the computers used on the Enterprise, arrives on board to install his new M5 Computer, which is capable of running a starship without humans. The system is to be tested in a war games exercise against four other starships, led by Commodore Robert Wesley. Daystrom describes the M5 as "a whole new approach" to logic systems; what he has done, in fact, is to create a computer that thinks like a person by impressing human "engrams" -- his own -- onto the circuits. "The relays are not unlike the synapse in the brain," Daystrom explains to Capt. Kirk. "M5 thinks, captain." However, in setting up the programs, Daystrom also -- unwittingly -- instilled the urge for survival in the computer, to the point where the automated freighter Woden, encountered on the way to the war games coordinates, is preceived as a threat and destroyed. In addition, M5 taps into the matter/anti-matter reactors as a new power source, giving it virtually unlimited power with no one able to shut the computer down. Kirk, meanwhile, wrestles with his own unease about the advance in technology and his own possible obsolescence. Daystrom, on the other hand, defends the advance as liberating man from hazardous duties. Dr. McCoy notes that Daystrom reacts toward the computer as a father to his child. When the war games exercise begins, M5 attacks the opposing starships with all weapons at full power (destroying the U.S.S. Excalibur in the process), and cuts off all communication from Enterprise to the fleet. When Commodore Wesley cannot raise the Enterprise by radio, he requests approval from Starfleet Command to destroy her. *''Captain’s log, stardate 4731.3. The M-5 multitronic unit has taken over total control of the Enterprise. '' Dr. Daystrom attempts to reason with his M5 in an effort to stop the attack, but goes mad in the effort. Kirk then forces the computer to recognize its responsibility in the deaths of hundreds of people. Feeling Daystrom's regret over the deaths, M5 shuts down, dropping the deflector shields and leaving itself open to attack to atone for its crime. Mr. Spock and Mr. Scott then disconnect the computer from ship's control. With communications not quite restored, Kirk orders that the shields be kept down, gambling that Wesley will be both compassionate and cautious and break off the battle force. Dr. Daystrom, meanwhile, is cared for in sickbay under sedation and heavy restraint to await transfer to a total rehabilitation facility. Background Information * The space station is reused footage of Deep Space Station K-7 from The Trouble with Tribbles. The automated freighter on the viewscreen is reused footage of [[SS Botany Bay|SS Botany Bay]] from Space Seed. The crippled ''Excalibur'' is reused footage of the ''Constellation'' from The Doomsday Machine. * Sean Morgan also played Lt. O'Neil in TOS. * Barry Russo had previously portrayed Commander Giotto in TOS: "The Devil in the Dark." * D.C. Fontana and the story conceptualist intended this episode as a comment on the increased mechanization that was costing traditional jobs in the United States as the 60s drew to a close. * Great music by George Duning, composed for Metamorphosis, is re-used as Kirk again romanticizes about being on a tall ship sailing the sea. In Balance of Terror he had wished he was on a long sea voyage. * Speaking of re-use, if you look closely at the three scanning heads on the large scanner used in hooking up the M-5, you will remember seeing them in the episode A Taste of Armageddon as part of the disrupter weapons. Quotes * "Did you see the love light in Spock's eyes? The right computer finally came along." - Dr. McCoy * "This isn't chicken soup. I may be just a ship's doctor, but I make a Finagle's Folly that's known from here to Orion. I strongly prescribe it, Jim." - Dr. McCoy * "Our compliments to the M5 unit, and regards to Captain Dunsel; Wesley out." "What does it mean?" "A dunsel, doctor, is a midshipman's term used at Starfleet Academy; it refers to a part that serves no useful purpose." -- Commodore Wesley, McCoy and Spock * "All ships damaged in unprovoked attack... Excalibur Captain Harris and first officer, dead... many casualties. We have damage, but are still maneuverable. I still have an effective battle force... and believe the only way to stop the Enterprise is to destroy her. Request permission to proceed." -- Wesley's communication to Starfleet Command * "Twenty years of groping to prove the things I'd done before were not accidents... seminars and lectures to rows of fools who couldn't begin to understand my systems... colleagues, laughing behind my back at the 'Boy Wonder;' and becoming famous, building on my work -- building on my work!" --Daystrom, unraveling * "Spock... M5 is not responding as a regular computer would -- it's actually talking to him." "I am most impressed with the technology, captain; Dr. Daystrom has succeeded in creating a mirror image of his own mind." -- Kirk and Spock * "This unit cannot murder." "Why?" "Murder is contrary to the laws of man and God." "But you have murdered. Scan the starship Excalibur, which you destroyed; is there life aboard?" "No life." "Because you murdered it. What is the penalty for murder?" "Death." "And how will you pay for your acts of murder?" "This... unit... must... die." -- M5 and Kirk * "It appears, Captain, we've been doing what used to be called 'pursuing a wild goose'." - Spock * "Commodore Wesley is a dedicated commander. I should regret serving aboard the instrument of his death." - Spock * "It would be most interesting to impress your memory engrams on a computer, Doctor. The resulting torrential flood of illogic would be most entertaining." - Spock * "The most unfortunate lack in current computer programming is that there is nothing available to immediately replace the starship surgeon." - Spock * "You don't shut a child off when it makes a mistake; M5 is growing, learning." "Learning to kill." "To defend itself; quite a different thing." -- Daystrom and McCoy * "You can't understand... and you're frightened because you can't understand. I'm going to show you -- I'm going to show all of you. It takes... 430 people to command a starship; with this, you don't need any. Man need no longer die in space, or on some alien world. Men can live and go on to achieve greater things than fact-finding and dying for galactic space, which is neither ours to give nor to take. You can't understand... we have not come to destroy life, we have come to save it!" --Daystrom * "Fantastic machine, the M5 - no Off switch!" - Dr. McCoy Links and References Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * George Takei as Sulu * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov Guest Stars * Barry Russo as Commodore Robert Wesley * William Marshall as Doctor Richard Daystrom * Sean Morgan as Ensign Harper * James Doohan as voice of M-5 computer (uncredited) * James Doohan as voice of Commodore Enwright (uncredited) * Eddie Paskey as Leslie (uncredited) * William Blackburn as Hadley (uncredited) * Frank da Vinci as Brent (uncredited) * Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli (uncredited) References Alpha Carinae II; Alpha Carinae system; Carstairs; class M; computer; death penalty; Dunsel, Captain; duotronics; Einstein, Albert; engram; ''Excalibur'', USS; Finagle's Folly; general quarters; Harris (Captain); ''Hood'', USS; Kazanga; ''Lexington'', USS; M-5 computer; multitronics; nitrogen; Nobel Prize; Orion; oxygen; Astrobiologist Phillips; ''Potemkin'', USS; Rawlins; Sakar; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet battle simulation; Starfleet Command; suicide; Woden; Zee-Magnees Prize Ultimate Computer, The de:Computer M5 nl:The Ultimate Computer